


The First Heist

by AgentSprings



Series: Fake Pine 7 [8]
Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF, Sugar Pine 7 RPF
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, GTA V AU, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Torture, fake pine 7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-22 04:08:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13158969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgentSprings/pseuds/AgentSprings
Summary: When the crew finally gets together proper they have to have a real heist, here is the story of how that goes down.





	The First Heist

It was time. The crew was ready to run a heist. They had been living together for long enough that they felt that they could work well together well in the field. They just had to agree on a target.

“I want to hit a vape store and get enough vape for a lifetime,” was Cib’s choice.

“I think we should hit a bank,” was Steve’s suggestion.

“Jewelry Store?” Came from James, but he was also ready to back up either of his boys if it came down to it.

“Gun store,” Jeremy suggested. When he was asked why his only response was, “I want weapons.”

“I want to hit that high tech store right on our side of the Fake Ah Crew territory. I need better hacking equipment so two birds one stone.” 

“I literally don’t give a shit,” Sami Jo said, and Parker agreed with her. So that left Steve as the leader of the crew to make the decision. The first thing that he did was tell Cib that no, they can’t rob a vapes store. And then he sat for about 45 minutes looking at schematics that didn’t make sense trying to make a decision.

“Steve, babe?” A hesitant voice piped up from next to him. When he looked up he saw his crew all hovering around the arm of the couch, Parker, Cib, and Sami Jo kneeling down with just their eyes peeking over the edge while Autumn, James, and Jeremy stood behind them. 

“Hey guys, what’s up?” Steve said, rubbing the back of his head.

  
“You know, the point of having a crew is so that shit like this doesn’t happen,” Jeremy said, walking around the couch to sit next to him.

“What does that mean?” Steve asked, tensing his shoulders up. 

“It means idiot, that we’re here to help,” Cib said, giving up on subtlety and flinging himself down next to Steve.

“We’re a crew and a family, you don’t have to make these decisions alone. So what suggestions do we have down?” Parker asked, sitting on the other side of Jeremy. Autumn and James stood behind Steve and Sami Jo sat next to Cib.

“Alright, I guess. Uh we have a jewelry store, a weapons store, a tech store, and a bank on the table right now.” Steve caved pointing to all the schematics that Autumn had gathered for him earlier that day. Jeremy and James leaned forward to look at the schematics, James leaning over Cib’s head.

“Hey! If we’re going to be a real crew we need a name, like Fakehaus or the Fake AH Crew.” Cib said laying down in Steve’s lap throwing his legs into Sami Jo's lap to avoid James’ lean. 

“Like what?” Autumn asked.

“I don’t know, uhh the Vape boys?”

“We’re not all boys and we don’t all vape,” Jeremy said.

“How about Parker and-” Parker started to say.

“No.” Everyone cut him off.

“Sugar Pine Seven?” Steve suggested.

“I mean, it’s not very scary or threatening at all. Also why that?” Sami Jo asked.

“I mean, we live in the Sugar Pine apartments, and there’s seven of us. It makes sense.” Steve defended himself.

“What about Slaughter Pine Seven?” Cib said, “It’s scary and threatening and has a personal meaning for us.”

There was a moment of silence while everyone turned to stare at him. Steve bent down and pressed a kiss to his forehead while James ran his hand along his arm.

“Dude, that was fucking deep as shit,” James said. Cib blushed and tried to bury his face in Steve’s stomach.

“Should we vote on the name? All those in favor of Slaughter Pine Seven?” Steve asked.

“Aye!” Everyone chorused.

“Ok, so what should our first heist as SP7 be?” Parker asked reaching forward and grabbing one of the schematics.

“Well, technically the Jewelry store will have the biggest pay off for the least amount of security. Their silent alarm is a transmission that I can intercept, according to their work roster they’re only going to have 3 employees and one security guard. If all of you go in you can handle it, Sami Jo can drive, and I can monitor everything from here.” Autumn said, reaching for the schematic and waiting for Steve to hand it to her.

“Ok, yeah. That looks like something we can handle. If Jeremy and I go in with our biggest guns while Steve you and Cib use the smaller ones. Jeremy, you can cover the guard and I can cover the crowd. Steve, you get the cash register and Cib gets the jewelry. And this time no one can get shot, deal?” James said studying the schematic Autumn was now holding.

“Dude you were the last one who got shot, so you watch yourself,” Parker said, poking his newly scarred shoulder. James smacked at his hand while grinning.

“It wasn’t just me asshole, your boyfriend got shot too.”

“Don’t drag me into this,” Jeremy had his hands up and was looking very trapped in the middle of the group.

“Alright guys, we need to run some recon in person before we jump right into it. Maybe do a dry run? Get them to trip the silent alarm and test to see if Autumn can intercept?” Steve said, twisting in his seat to look back at Autumn and James.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. We should send in Parker to watch and Cib to see if we can get them to trigger the alarm. Parker you would be there to make sure that Cib doesn’t actually get shot or arrested,” James said.

“I can do that, but how exactly do you want Cib to get them to trip the alarm without the security guard stopping him?”

“I could go in too, and distract the security guard with an emergency or something?” Sami Jo volunteered. 

“Yeah, that’s good. Ok, so Sami Jo you go in and deal with the security guard, tell him you’ve been robbed or something and be hysterical. Parker, you need to be in there before them, tell a saleswoman you’re looking for a necklace for your sister or something. Cib you go in and be drunk or something, just utterly disorderly so that they need to call the police,” Steve said, resting his head back against James. 

“Sounds like a plan, we’ll do that tomorrow if Autumn can get her equipment set up by then?” Jeremy looked over at her.

“Yeah, I already connected to their systems to get all this information so it shouldn’t be super difficult, well it wouldn’t be difficult for me. If it doesn’t work we may need to do it again but it would be harder.”

“Then let’s get some rest so that we can start early tomorrow, I don’t want to draw this out too long,” Steve said. They all stood up, Autumn and James took all the other schematics and took them into the bathroom to burn them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning came and Parker left for the bank first, he needed to be in place so that it wasn’t suspicious when Cib and Sami Jo showed up. Sami Jo left about 20 minutes later and Cib 5 minutes after her. Steve, Jeremy, and James sat behind Autumn to watch what she was doing, she let them do that for about 30 seconds before she put the security feed up on a second computer and just pointed at it. James dragged Jeremy and Steve over to it without a second prompt. When they looked at the monitor they could see Parker talking to a saleswoman, with his back to the door. 

They watched for about a minute before a hysterical Sami Jo ran in, crying with a torn shirt. She ran right up to the security guard and seemed to be crying to him. They weren’t entirely sure what exactly she was telling the guard but it apparently was working, over the next few minutes she was able to get him to leave the store and follow her down the street. About a minute after they left the store they saw Cib enter the store and start throwing a fit about god knows what. The only thing that they could tell was that Parker was struggling not to laugh and that the sales lady was about 30 seconds from hitting the button. 

“C’mon, c’mon hit the button,” James muttered. 

Unfortunately, the security guard came back then and started to move towards Cib.

“Fuck, we may not get it,” Steve pulled off his hat and tugged on his hair. Of course Cib loved to surprise them, he grabbed Parker’s shoulders and spun him around before punching him in the face. Jeremy tensed up and looked like he was about to run out the door and all the way to the store to fight Cib. Fortunately Cib was able to pull the punch enough that Parker just reeled back before punching back at Cib. They started rolling around on the ground fighting with each other. The security guard tried to pull them off of each other but the sales clerk had already hit the button to call the police.

The boys all heard Autumn typing furiously on the computer for about a minute before she cheered and threw her arms in the air.

“Got it!”

James and Steve cheered loudly while Jeremy grinned. They all turned back to the security feed to see if their boys would get out without going to jail. What they saw was Cib on top of Parker kissing him while everyone else in the store was staring. Jeremy and James both started while Steve just started laughing.

“I mean that’s one way to get out of trouble,” Autumn said, glancing at the screen.

Sami Jo came in then, “Hey guys, how’d it go?” 

The only response she got was Autumn pointing at the screen where Cib and Parker had finally stood up and were being escorted out by the security guard.

“Well, I assume that means it went well.”

“I can’t wait to hear what the fuck he was yelling about where the natural progression was to have first a fist fight with Parker and then make out with him,” Steve said, still clearly finding everything hysterical.

“We should get some earbuds, to avoid being out of contact with people who are out in the field,” Autumn said looking at the computer, before starting to poke at James’ shoulder. “James’ who provided our old crew with those? Also, calm down they kissed for a con, Cib love you and Steve and Parker loves Jeremy. Breathe.”

James snapped out of where he had been staring at the computer monitor before turning and facing Autumn. “Uh, yeah right. I think I still have the number of our last supplier, if we do the heist next week we can get the earbuds before, but I’m not sure we can afford them.”

Steve wrapped his arms around James’ shoulders before resting his head on his shoulders. “Cib is a big overgrown puppy, who loves us so much. This is Cib we’re talking about. I don’t think he could ever stop loving us, and Parker like loves Jeremy with both his heart and soul so we definitely don’t need to worry about that.”

Jeremy relaxed at that statement and sat down on the ground, while James turned around in Steve’s arms and hugged him back.

“Alright!” Sami Jo clapped, “Now that the mandatory emotional moment is out of the way, what’s the plan?” 

“Are we going to wait to hear about the earbuds or do we think that we can get through this job without them?” Steve turned towards Autumn for any sort of indication of what the correct answer is.

“I mean, I’ll be the only one who won’t be in contact with you guys the whole time, and I can monitor the police scanners and traffic cams. I think that after we pull off this one we can get equipment that we need. James, do you remember how to spot the street cameras?”

“Yeah, I remember. Keep monitoring and I’ll try and stay in touch through the cameras if shit goes sideways.”

Cib and Parker burst in the front door laughing, interrupting the planning session. Everybody turned towards them, James crossing his arms in front of himself with Steves' arms still around his shoulders.

“Now where have you two been? We have been worried sick?” He demanded, a smile tugging at the side of his mouth.

“Your mother and I were worried sick!” Sami Jo chimed in, gesturing at herself and Autumn.

“You better have a damn good explanation young men!” Steve said. Jeremy just glowered from the side, but it was clear that he was hiding a grin.

“It was his fault!” Cib said, jumping away from Parker while pointing at him.

“No! It was his fault! He punched me in the face!” Parker argued, pointing back at Cib.

“Well, I kissed him!” Cib shouted, causing a moment of silence before everyone burst out laughing.

“Wait, you guys knew?” Parker asked accusingly, face burning.

“We watched the whole time babe. Don’t worry about it,” Jeremy said, holding his arms out for a hug.

“I just want to know what the fuck you were yelling about that would lead to you first punching him in the face and then making out with him,” James said, reaching up and hooking his arms in Steve’s. Cib walked over and hugged them both, hiding his face in the crook of James' neck.

“He came in yelling about how the ring that he bought for his fiance was the wrong size and that made his fiance cheat on him with a woman. He went off on it for about 3 minutes before the security guard came back in and Cib decided that I would make a great finance. I think during the fight we cleared it up that I wasn’t cheating on him and instead I was buying a necklace for my sister and that I loved him. And then we kissed and figured that if they hadn’t called the police by then that they wouldn’t so we needed to leave,” Parker explained, wrapping Jeremy up in a hug.

“I love your brain Cib. That is an amazing story,” James said, pulling one of Cib’s hands up to his mouth to kiss it.

“Guys we need masks. They would totally know exactly who we are if the same crazy guy who was in there fist fighting and then making out with other people came in and robbed the place two days later.” Autumn pointed out. “I’m gonna wipe the security footage, so they won’t have proof but still, you made yourself memorable.”

“Can we get matching masks?” Cib asked, slightly muffled by James’ neck.

“Of course we can babe,” Steve said, rubbing Cib’s hair. Cib pulled out of James’ neck a little to grin at him. 

“Shopping montage?”

“Shopping montage!” James, Steve, Parker, and Sami Jo cheered. Autumn and Jeremy exchanged a look before sighing together about their childlike family. James, Cib, and Sami Jo all scrambled for their keys and wallets yelling about what kind of masks they would get, while Parker and Steve ran for the door.

“Wait!” Autumn yelled to be heard over the noise. Everyone froze and looked at her. “We have to take the dogs out first, they need to go for a walk and then we have to make sure they have food. They’ve been locked back in our rooms for like an hour now and they need to get out and run around.

“The dogs!” Parker and Cib ran for the bedroom doors to release all their dogs back into the rest of the apartment. Everyone else sat on the ground waiting for the rush of puppies that were coming. As soon as they heard the doors open they also heard the sound of 7 small puppies running towards them.

“This is how I’m going to die,” Jeremy said, bracing himself for the puppies.

“And man what a way to go,” James said, laying back on the ground waiting to be smothered by the pups. The pups came running out and they spent about 20 minutes just playing with them before they got them all collared up and on leashes so that they could go for a walk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Ok, the puppies have been walked and put back in the apartment with toys, water, and food. Can we have a shopping montage now?” Cib asked standing next to the door of the apartment with the keys to their minivan in his hand.

“I think we’re ready, as long as you promise to let Sami Jo drive,” Autumn said holding out her hand for the keys.

“I’ll have you know that I am an amazing driver, I used to be the getaway driver for this crew.”

“If I remember correctly, the last time that you tried to be our getaway driver two people got shot and we had to switch drivers while driving away from cops,” Parker said, crossing his arms.

“When you put it that way it sounds bad,” Cib said crossing his arms. “And this isn’t going to be a car chase with the cops, we’re going shopping. I think I can handle that,”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“How the fuck? How the fuck did you do this?!” Steve demanded from where he was sprawled on top of Autumn and Parker trying to keep them and himself safe from the gunfire.

“It’s not my fault!” Cib shouted from his position reclined under Sami Jo. When the shooting had started she had knocked his seat back and jumped into his lap to take over.

“I don’t give a fuck whose fault it is, just get us out of here, I wasn’t ready for a shootout with the cops,” James called from where he and Jeremy were popped out of the sunroof.

“On it,” Sami Jo said, as she started more aggressively driving. James and Jeremy dropped back down into the minivan, checking on their respective partners.

“You got this babe, just don’t crash,” Autumn said from where she was squished under Parker and Steve.

“2 minutes,” Sami Jo said. She was incredibly accurate with that number as she swerved and avoided police, eventually running them into the mountains where they hid for an hour.

“So, how the fuck did you turn a shopping trip into a police chase out of town?” Jeremy asked. They were all up in some trees watching for the flashing lights of the cops.

“I swear it wasn’t my fault,” Cib said, sitting as high in a tree as he was allowed. James and Steve were sitting right below him, watching him to make sure he didn’t fall.

“Honestly, I don’t care whose fault it was. Cib you can never drive again. Unless it’s just the three of us and we aren’t doing anything even vaguely related to a crime,” Steve said catching Cib’s hanging ankle and holding it.

“At least we got everything for the heist,” Parker said trying to play peacekeeper. He was leaning against Jeremy on the tree across from the tree Cib was on. 

“Yeah, we’ll need to burn the van but other than that we’re good to go for tomorrow,” Sami Jo said, laying on a branch above Autumn.

“Do we have another car?” James asked.

“I have one, it will be the only time we can use it but we can definitely use it,” Autumn said. “If we burn the van now and start walking home we should make it home by like eight o’clock tonight.”

“Alright let’s do it!” Cib said before attempting to throw himself from the tree.

“Cib no!” Steve and James shouted, James grabbing Cib and Steve grabbing James.

“Aww guys, it would have been cool.”

“How have you guys made it this long?” Sami Jo asked, climbing down from her perch.

“Luck, sheer luck,” Parker said, climbing down with Jeremy.

“That’s probably true,” Steve said, while James swung Cib to a branch and let him go. Cib stuck out his tongue at them before climbing down the tree properly. James and Steve followed behind him.

“Alright, James you’re with me, we’re gonna go burn the car. Jeremy, can you guide everyone home?” Autumn asked.

“Yeah, no problem.” 

“Great, see you guys tonight,” Autumn grabbed James’ arm and pulled him over to where they had parked the car while everyone else started walking back down the mountain.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Everyone clear on the plan?” Steve said the next morning as they were suiting up. 

“Yes Steve. We’re very prepared and we know what we’re doing,” Autumn said sitting at her computer setup.

“Just checking, I don’t want a repeat of last time.”

“It won’t happen like that, Steve you need to trust us,” Parker said, taking a shotgun from Jeremy.

“I do trust you! It’s just, I don’t want any of you to get shot or die.”

“Steve,” James walked up and took Steve’s face in his hands, “we are going to be fine. We work well together, we trust each other, and we know the plan.”

“Fine, but I’ll only agree if you give me a kiss.”

“Your wish is my command,” James pressed a kiss to his forehead, both of his cheeks, and then his lips.

“My turn!” Cib ran forward and kissed them both on the lips.

“Alright, if you guys are done being cute we have a timetable to keep to,” Jeremy pointed out from where he was strapping yet another weapon to his body.

“Yeah, we’re ready.”

“Alright guys, I’ll monitor from here so don’t have any problems. There’s only so much I’ll be able to do,” Autumn said pressing a quick kiss to Sami Jo’s head before they all ran out the door.

It took them about ten minutes to get to the store, and Autumn had asked for an additional five to ensure that she had the system locked down. When the time was right the boys all got out of the car with their masks on and walked into the store.

“Alright everyone down!” James shouted, firing a shot into the ceiling. Everyone started screaming and dropping to the ground. “Everyone does what we say and no one will get hurt.”

“Money in the bag,” Jeremy said, far more intimidating when calm than when shouting. While he did that Cib and Parker started to empty out the display cases. Steve and James stayed on crowd control, making sure that no one was going to play the hero.

“Minute and a half,” Steve called, looking at his watch. There was only so long Autumn could delay the system so they were on a tight schedule. Once Jeremy got the money he headed for the door.

“Forty-five seconds.”

As soon as Cib and Parker got the jewelry they followed Jeremy out the door, Steve and James directly behind them. They all piled back into Sami Jo’s car and they took off. 

“Nailed it!” Cib shouted, flopping back into his seat and pulling off his mask.

“No cops, which means Autumn fucking nailed,” Jeremy said, continuously glancing out the back window. 

“I think we’re home free,” Parker said. Then Sami Jo screamed and the car flipped. Steve briefly saw a man with a minigun outside before his head hit something and everything went black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The first thing that Steve became aware of was the pounding of his head. This sensation was immediately followed by the awareness that he was tied to a chair. Panic filled his chest as he forced his eyes open. Where was his family, was everyone alive, where were they?

When Steve finally forced his eyes open the first thing he saw was Cib tied to a wooden chair directly across from himself. Cib was bleeding from a cut above his eye and didn’t seem to be awake.

“Boss?” He heard a voice from his left say. It hurt to move his head but he was able to look over and see James tied in a very similar way to himself, directly across from Sami Jo. “It’s me, Water Warrior, what do you remember?”

“Water- uh, I remember a car? And then a crash?”

“That’s good Boss, Speedy here was driving, and Games and the Scientist and Vape were all in the back with you. I was up front with Speedy. And now, we’re here.” James said, his eyes darting to each person as he said their nickname. It was clear to Steve that he was panicking inside but trying to keep him calm.

“Anyone else awake?”

“Games and I are,” Jeremy said from Steve’s other side. Steve couldn’t look over at them because the door behind Cib slammed open.

“Well well. I see most of you are awake now. So let’s get right down to business,” a man in a cheap suit said, flanked by two guys who were clearly supposed to be his muscle. “I suppose you know why you’re here.”

“Actually asshole, we have no idea,” Steve said, keeping his eyes on whoever he could. He couldn’t see Jeremy or James but if he kept his face forward he could see everyone else.

“Well, allow me to shed some light on the subject,” he said, throwing the bag of jewels in front of Steve. “You have robbed the wrong person.” 

There was a moment of silence before Steve realized the others wouldn’t talk, it was up to him as the boss. They were gonna follow his lead. He swallowed hard before speaking up, “and who exactly did we rob?” 

The man grinned before getting right in Steve’s face, “You robbed the Corpirate.” Steve could hear James and Jeremy both inhale sharply but quietly next to him. Steve forced a smile.

“Oh did we? Our bad. But as you can see you got everything back. So how about you let us go and we don’t do that again.”

“Nope, see you shitheads aren’t smart enough to have done this on your own. Our job is to find out which of the big crews hired you. Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. I’ll let you have some time to think about that.” With that, they all left the room.

The crew sat in silence for about a minute before Jeremy spoke up. “So boss, what’s the plan?” Steve just stared ahead at Cib, who hadn’t woken up still and was bleeding pretty bad. He didn’t even know what other injuries he had, let alone what injuries James had. He started to hyperventilate quietly as the panic started to overwhelm him.

He wasn’t a criminal, he worked in a store before this. He didn’t know what to do.

“We don’t say anything. No matter what,” he heard James say. 

“Are you-“ Parker started to speak up

“Yes. Nothing,” James said, “Boss, take a deep breath.”

Right after he said that the door swung open again. 

“Alright, so who wants to tell me what I want to know?” He asked as he came in. “No one? Oh how disappointing.” He gestured to his side and the muscles came in holding various torture tools. One was holding a hammer and what looked like a giant metal chisel. The other had a bag of knives. 

“Well, I suppose I need to get the info out of you somehow. So who should I start with? Perhaps you?” He walked up to Parker, but kept his eyes on everyone else. Apparently, he liked what he saw because he gestured behind himself for tools. Steve could see Parker’s eyes go wide and could feel him getting more panicky. At that moment Cib started to stir.

“But perhaps, I should question more than one of you at a time?” The suit said, moving over towards Cib. Cib’s eyes opened and his neck was immediately grabbed by the suit. 

“Well now, perhaps you’ll be more use than your friends here. Or perhaps you’ll simply be another tool.” One of the muscles handed him the hammer while the other sat in front of Parker and started pulling out knives.

“Damien, just carve him up. I don’t want him dead but I want him screaming. I’ll take beanpole here.” The suit said, nodding at the other muscle. He took his cue and left the room. 

“Now, you have such a pretty face, it would be a shame to ruin it. So tell me what I want to know.”

Cib glanced over the shots shoulder at James and Steve before grinning and saying, “Fuck you.”

“Well, have it your way,” he picked up one of the knives and held it up to Cib’s face before he pulled away. “You know, you have far more nerves in your hands,” and driving the knife down into the back of Cib’s hand. 

Cib screamed out before clamping his jaw shut and just staring at the ceiling. Steve glanced over at Parker and wished that he hadn’t. Parker’s chest was a mess of cuts, there didn’t appear to be any design to the pattern. Parker hadn’t uttered a sound yet but he looked like he was close to breaking.

“I would hate to break your other hand. Just tell me what I need to know,” with that the suit lifted up the hammer and held it over Cib’s good hand.

At that moment they all heard an explosion. And then all hell broke loose.

“What the fu-“ The suit started to turn towards the door when the side of his head exploded out. A second later the same thing happened to the muscle.

“Yes!” James shouted, before rocking in the chair a bit and then flipping it over. The chair shattered on impact and James hurriedly got the ropes off of himself before hurrying to Cib.

“You’re gonna be ok babe, keep breathing and I’ll get you out of here.” 

James bent down and picked up some of the knives and started cutting through Jeremy’s bonds. Once his hands were free he took care of his feet and started to untie Parker. James turned to Steve and cut him loose.

“Alright, you all stay here, Jeremy can you take care of Parker and Cib?” James asked.

“Yeah, where are you going?”

“To find Anubis,” James rifled through the suits clothes pulling out a handgun before he stood up and headed towards the door.

“Don’t leave!” The words tore out of Steve’s throat without his permission. James hesitated for a second before he turned around.

“You’ll be fine, watch Cib and Sami Jo, ok? I’ll be back, I promise,” and with that he slipped out the door into the hallway. Steve immediately dropped to his knees in front of Cib.

“Hey honey, I need you to stay awake ok? I’m not gonna touch that because that just feels like a bad idea. I’m gonna cut your legs free ok?” Steve gently touched the side of Cib’s face to keep his attention. 

“Yeah, do that.” Cib had his teeth grit and was clearly struggling to not pass out. Jeremy had Parker untied and was untying Sami Jo. They all heard more gunshots from out of the room before there was silence. Jeremy tensed up and picked up two of the knives before moving between the door and everyone else. Steve picked up the hammer and moved next to Jeremy.

There was another minute of silence before the door swung open. Jeremy launched one of the knives at the door before he realized that it was James and Autumn standing there. Fortunately, the knife missed them both, but James still lifted up the gun as a reaction.

“Oh fuck, it’s you guys,” Steve said dropping the hammer and falling to his knees.

“The base is clear, but we need to move. How many of you can move?” Autumn said a sniper rifle slung across her back and a pistol in her hand.

“I can walk, Sami Jo isn’t awake, Cib has a knife in his hand,” Parker said, pulling himself into a standing position next to them.

“If we can get the knife out of the chair but leave it in his hand we can at least get him home. I can carry Sami Jo,” James said, already moving over to them.

“Hey honey, did you kill them?” Cib asked rolling his head to look at James.

“Yeah babe, I killed every last one of them. Now, this is going to suck but I need to you stay awake ok?” James grabbed his forearm and his fingers. Autumn had knelt down and picked up the jewelry that the suit had thrown at them. Jeremy was holding up Parker for the most part while watching the door.

“We sure as hell aren’t walking away from this empty-handed,” Autumn said as she tucked the bag of jewels into her belt. “I also got all the money from their safe, that’s back in the car.”

“Alright, do it James,” Steve said, from where he was holding down Cib. James grit his teeth before he pulled up sharply. The knife stayed with the hand but left the arm of the chair. Cib screamed out before sobbing.

“Shirt,” James demanded, holding out his hand. Autumn pulled off her flannel and handed it over, letting James wrap it around the knife in Cib’s hand to keep it in place. “Steve, you got Cib?”

“Yeah, for sure.”

“Good,” James got up and went over to Sami Jo, picking her up and slinging her over his shoulder. “Lead on Autumn.”

Autumn led them out of the building that was partly on fire and over to a car that none of them had seen before. Autumn climbed in the front seat, James climbing in next to her with Sami Jo in his arms. Jeremy and Steve took the outside windows so they could keep an eye on Cib and Parker.

“How’d you find us?” Cib asked, looking for a distraction. Autumn glanced at him in the rearview mirror before looking back at the road. There was a pause before she spoke.

“A long time ago I gave James a bracelet, it has a tracker in it. When they got you guys off of radar I just had to track him. I’m just glad it wasn’t broken.”

“Did you know? That she was tracking us?” Steve asked, starting to feel angry. James glanced back at him before he shrank down a little.

“Yeah, I knew.”

“That’s why you told us not to say anything? But what if you’d been wrong? James, they would have killed us!” Steve shouted, feeling his emotional walls break down.

“You think I don’t know that? Fuck dude that wasn’t easy for me either,” 

“You could have mentioned that someone was coming,” Jeremy said, still holding one of the knives.

“How? We don’t know how much they were listening! I couldn’t just announce that someone was coming,” James was getting more defensive and was pressing himself back against the door.

“Guys, please let’s not fight. Let’s just get home and get medical attention,” Parker said, holding the remains of his shirt to his bleeding chest.

“Fine. But this conversation isn’t over,” Steve said before turning to Cib and checking the wound over his eye.

Autumn got them home in record time, everyone piled out of the car and hurried up to their apartment. All of the puppies had been locked back in the bedrooms again so they just put Parker and Cib on the couch. Cib had passed out during the car ride, something that Steve was now considering a small blessing

“I can remove the knife in Cib’s hand if one of you wants to take care of Parker,” Jeremy offered, already examining Cib’s hand.

“I can do that,” James offered, but Jeremy shot him a glare that made him flinch back.

“I got it,” Autumn said, vanishing into the kitchen for the first aid kit. Steve was sitting on Cib’s good side and was brushing his hair back from his face. Sami Jo had woken up on the ride home so she was just laying on Parker and Jeremy’s bed trying not to move her head. James glanced around once before he slipped out onto the balcony. 

From the balcony James could climb up the other balconies to the roof, so he did. He sat up there for about 15 minutes before another head popped up the side of the roof. He wasn’t too surprised to see Autumn there, so he smiled at her and moved a little to let her know that she could join him.

“So, things got a little tense down there,” she said, settling down next to him.

“No kidding,” James snorted before resting his head against the brick wall, “they hate me. I should have told them.”

“They don’t hate you, none of them have done this like we have. Maybe Jeremy and Parker but definitely not our partners. They need some time and space. They adore you, James.”

“Jeremy is going to kill me in my sleep.”

“He may try but I don’t think Parker would let him. Parker’s not mad at you, neither is Cib. Sami Jo is mostly confused and concussed so she’s definitely not mad at you.”

“Steve is pissed.”

“Yes he is, but as soon as he gets his head out of his ass he’s going to come looking for you. That crash was nasty, any injuries I should know about?”

“Eh, probably cracked some ribs, fucked up my ankle but I can still walk on it. Don’t worry about me I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll always worry about you idiot. You're my brother for all intents and purposes. And I’ll always have your back. Unless you’re doing something truly stupid, then you’re on your own.”

James laughed at that before throwing an arm around her shoulders.

“Thanks, Anubis, I don’t know what we would have done if you hadn’t come.”

“I’ll always come for my family. And thanks to you that family is significantly bigger.”

“Yeah, well they may not be our family much longer. I mean what was I thinking? Steve is a civilian he doesn’t know how to handle this,” James was starting to panic again so Autumn turned towards him and grabbed his face.

“Steve loves you. Will all his heart. He won’t stop loving you because you made a call he didn’t like. He was terrified about Cib and Parker and he didn’t know that there was an escape plan. He’s not mad enough at you to either break up with you or kick you out of the crew.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I know you and I know him and I can tell you right now that I’m right. Now, c’mon. Your boyfriend who was stabbed needs some love,” Autumn stood up and dragged him up too. They both climbed down from the roof and slipped back into the living room.

“Oh there you are,” Sami Jo whispered reaching out for Autumn. “Parker and Jeremy are in our room right now, I think Cib and Steve are in their room. Hi James.”

“Alright, thanks, Sami Jo,” James rested his hand on top of her head for a second before he walked down the hall to his room. “They don’t hate you. They love you. They chose you. You love them,” he whispered to himself as he stood outside the door. He took another minute to build up his courage before he cracked the door open.

Glancing inside he saw Steve sound asleep resting against Cib, while Cib was sitting up and watching the door.

“There you are honey,” he whispered, reaching out his good hand to James. James stepped into the room but didn’t go beyond the door.

“Cib, I’m so sorry. If I could have stopped him I would have, you have to believe me,” James almost didn’t notice the tears running down the side of his face. He was holding onto the doorknob in case he needed to make a speedy escape.

“Oh honey, come here,” Cib tried to reach for him but couldn’t get very far with Steve laying on top of him. James shrank back against the door and shook his head. “James please, I can’t get to you so get your ass over here.”

“I didn’t mean for you to get hurt, I’m sorry, I know you probably hate me but I’m really really sorry,” James kept babbling out apologies, not really hearing what Cib was saying. Cib apparently had enough because he pushed Steve to the ground and stood up off of the bed.

“The fu-“ Steve said as he was rudely awoken by the floor. Cib took no notice though and walked right up to James.

“James, honey? Breathe. In and out. There you go.” Cib slowly put his good hand on James’ shoulder before pulling him into a hug. Steve was sitting up and watching the scene with a horrified expression.

“I know you guys all probably hate me but please don’t break up with me, or kick me out of the crew. You’re my family and I don’t want to lose you.” James sobbed into Cib’s shirt.

“James-“ Steve started to say but was quickly silenced by a glare from Cib.

“Honey, I’m gonna lead you to the bed and you’re gonna lie down and go to sleep ok? We’ll talk more when you wake up,” Cib said, using his good hand to gently lead James towards the bed. Steve scrambled up and stood by the wall watching. Cib managed to get James lying down and just sat next to him running his hand through his hair until he fell asleep. Two of the puppies had jumped up and snuggled up next to James, which made him smile.

As soon as it was clear that James was asleep Cib turned towards Steve. “So, you wouldn’t have any idea why our beloved boyfriend thinks we hate him do you?”

“I think he thinks that Jeremy and I blame him for what happened to you and Parker,” Steve admitted after a moment. Cib stared at him in disbelief.

“Do you? Does he?”

“I don’t, you have to believe me, I don’t!” He exclaimed, “but I said some things that I shouldn’t have and I’m sorry.”

“It’s really not me you need to apologize to Steven. And you and Jeremy have no right to decide if we should be mad at him for what happened. I don’t blame him at all! Shit happens in this life Steve,” Cib was now standing physically between James and Steve.

“I know, but I’m not used to this shit. I was scared. Fuck I was terrified,” Steve said, throwing his hands up in the air.

“I think you and Jeremy need to have a conversation, and then do a lot of groveling. Because if James decides to leave you can bet your ass that Autumn and Sami Jo will follow him. I don’t know what Parker and I would do, and I really hope we never have to find out,” with that Cib turned his back on Steve and sat back down next to James.

Steve took his cue and left the room, pausing in the hallway to take a deep breath.

“Fuck,” he whispered, before turning to Parker and Jeremy’s room. He knocked on the door and waited for Jeremy to open the door. “We need to talk,” Steve pushed past Jeremy into the room.

Parker was sitting up in the bed, and when he saw James he tried to pull himself into a more upright position. “Steve, what’s up?”

“I, uh, I need to talk to Jeremy I think,” Steve said looking at them both.

“Anything you want to say to me you can say in front of him,” Jeremy crossed his arms and glared at Steve. Steve sighed but squared his shoulders.

“We crossed a major line with James and we really fucked up.”

“Wait, what the fuck did you do?” Parker was suddenly sitting up much straighter and looking back and forth between the two of them.

“I didn’t do anything,” Jeremy said, not budging an inch. Parker glared at him for a moment before looking at Steve.

“If he came in here saying that you  _ both  _ did something, I think you did something,” Parker started to get out of the bed.

“Parker-“ Jeremy started to move towards him but he held up a hand and glared.

“Jeremy. What the fuck did you do to James?” Parker’s voice had gotten low and angry, Steve felt even more guilty than before. Jeremy crossed his arms and got defensive.

“I didn’t do anything that wasn’t deserved. He told us not to say anything and you got hurt. It was his fault and I made sure he knew that and wouldn’t touch you again,” Jeremy growled, slinking back and pressing his back against the wall. There was a moment of silence before Parker whirled on Steve.

“What did you do. You came in here saying you both did something. Explain.”

“I- I yelled at him. And I didn’t stick up for him when Jeremy was angry at him. And I didn’t let him near Cib,” With every confession, Steve shrank in on himself more and more. He couldn’t even look at Parker.

“What the fuck!” Parker shouted, “It wasn’t his fault in any way! We all agreed not to talk and if you wanted to talk he wasn’t stopping you! Jeremy, you sure as shit know that I can take that pain and so much more. I can’t believe you two!” Parker moved to the door.

“Parker? Where-“ Jeremy started to move forward but froze when Parker turned on him again.

“I am not a fucking child. I appreciate you and I love you so much but if you’re attacking our friends because I’ve been hurt doing our fucking job, then I think we need a few days apart so you can figure out what I am to you,” With that Parker brushed past Steve and started to leave the room. He paused for a second a turned to Steve, “those boys and the greatest thing that has ever happened to you, I think James will forgive you but you’ll need to grovel. Don’t fuck it up.”

Parker slammed the door shut, leaving Steve and Jeremy in silence for a moment.

“Ok. We fucked up,” Jeremy said, sinking down to the ground. Steve glanced up and him and saw that he looked utterly destroyed.

“Parker will forgive you, give him some time and then talk to him. But he is right, he isn’t a child.”

“I know that. I just hate to see him hurt and I couldn’t stop it or protect him. I needed someone to blame and I wish that I had picked anyone but James.”

“Me too. I had no right to keep him from Cib or yell at him. It really wasn’t his fault. Fuck, how do we fix this?”

“Well,” They both jumped when they heard Autumn’s voice. They looked up and she was standing in the door, “as someone who has known him for as long as I have, I have some suggestions.”

“Please, I’m desperate,” Steve jumped up to face her.

“Give him the night with Cib, tomorrow bring them all breakfast. Have a conversation with James and Cib and make sure they both know that you love them and your sorry. Make sure that James knows that there’s no way you’d either break up with him or kick him out. I think you can take it from there?”

“Yeah. I can do that. Fuck Autumn, I’m sorry.”

“I know. You just need to convince Cib, James, and Parker of that,” Autumn touched his shoulder before turning to leave the room.

“What? No help for me?” Jeremy asked, standing up.

“Jeremy, you know Parker better than anyone else. If you need  _ my  _ help something is wrong,” Autumn left the room with that, once more leaving the two of them in silence.

“So, tomorrow we make it up to them. Tonight we plan,” Steve said, gesturing for Jeremy to follow him out of the room. Jeremy took a deep breath before following him out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Parker left the room and went straight to Cib and James’. He didn’t even hesitate before opening the door and poking his head in. He saw Cib standing in front of James in a very defensive pose, which he dropped as soon as he saw Parker.

“Hey dude,” he smiled tiredly before dropping down next to James on the bed.

“Are you supposed to be standing?” Parker asked, entering the room and closing the door.

“Probably not, what about you? I think you’re bleeding again dude,” Cib pointed at Parker’s chest before dropping his hand into James’ hair. Parker glanced down and saw that, yes he was bleeding again.

“Yeah, can I sit?”

“That depends, are you mad at James?” Parker noticed that James tensed up ever so slightly at the mention of his name, clearly not as asleep as he was trying to convince people he was.

“Not at all, I’m furious at our partners but not at you, James, or the girls.”

“Then come on in, take a load off,” Cib gestured towards the other end of the bed, next to James’ feet. “James? You ready to rejoin humanity?”

James groaned and wriggled to press his face into Cib’s stomach.

“C’mon love, it’s time to wake up,” Cib ran his fingers through his hair for a moment. “Parker may need medical attention, and I can’t provide.”

James sat up and looked at Parker.

“Dude! What the fuck did you do?” James jumped up and knelt in front Parker, holding his hands in front of his chest but not quite touching him.

“I yelled at the people who made you feel like shit, apparently I strained myself.”

James looked up at him and shrank into himself a little before taking a deep breath, “can I touch your chest?”

“Well if you don’t I may bleed out so yes please.” 

James reached forward and pulled some of the bandages away from his chest, “No stitches? Alright, if I get the first aid kit I’ll see what I can do.”

“Here’s the kit, we were using it in here earlier,” Cib offered him the giant first aid kit that they invested in after James broke his hand.

“Thanks,” James took it and spent the next ten minutes rebandaging Parker’s chest, “now you really shouldn’t move much until these heal a little more. They’re not deep so it shouldn’t be a lot of scarring.”

“Alright nurse James, thank you,” Parker grinned at him. James smiled back and pushed him gently into laying down. 

“Ok so now the two of you can’t do anything anymore. I’ll take care of you,” James started to stand up to leave the room.

“Hold on James!” Parker grabbed his hand and forced him to stay still. “You need to know that I don’t blame you. And as soon as Jeremy gets his head out of his ass he’s going to grovel for your forgiveness. And Steve. Dude Steve feels so bad. That’s not to say you should just forgive him, let him grovel, but he didn’t mean to blame you or hurt you.”

“I know, I was worried but it’s Steve, he loves us and he reacted. He’s never been in a situation like that, I figure he deserves a break. But yeah he’s gonna need to grovel.”

“Good, and babe, if you ever like left the crew we would all probably follow you.”

“Good to know,” James smiled at Cib, “now let me go get the stuff to take care of you guys.”

When James left the room Parker and Cib turned towards each other.

“So, do you think we overreacted?” Parker asked, glancing between Cib and his hands.

“Nah, our boyfriends were being idiots and needed to realize that. We all do need to sit down and have a conversation though, about what to expect in situations like that again.”

“Yeah, I know that Jeremy and I can take a lot of pain, clearly you and James can too. It’s Sami Jo that I’m worried about,”

“I think she and Autumn can take care of themselves. Steve is the only one not from this life, this could have broken him. I don’t want him to break.”

“He’s fairly adaptive, I think he’ll recover and he’ll find his place and his stride.”

“You guys gossiping? I wanna join!” James said, reentering the room with a plate of sandwiches and a bunch of water bottles.

“Hey babe! Not gossiping, just planning. Where are the girls?”

“I think they’re spending the night out, Autumn making sure that Sami Jo is ok and all that.” James settled back down between the boys on the bed. “Alright, I want you guys to eat and then sleep.”

“Fine, but you have to sleep too,” Cib pokes James in the chest.

“Deal,” James shook hands with Cib and then with Parker. They all ate and just chatted about benign things to keep their minds off of their problems. When they finished eating Parker started to get up but was stopped by James’ hand on his arm.

“Nope, you sleep here. You’re family now and can join the snuggle pile. No Romo,” Cib said making Parker laugh.

“Alright, I’ll sleep here tonight,” Parker snuggled back down, laying on his back next to James.

“Night dudes,” Cib said already nodding off

“Night guys,” Parker said.

“Night assholes,” James said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning came and with it came to fruition the plan of an exhausted Steve and Jeremy. They had spent the night trying to find everything they needed to make sure that James felt loved, they figured they could worry about Cib and Parker after James felt better.

“Ok, so one cop chase, two robberies, and an hour of baking breakfast. Do you think we’re ready?” Steve asked, he had been a bundle of anxious energy all night.

“Yeah dude, if he doesn’t feel loved after this I would suggest just crying at his feet for a while.”

“Alright, let’s go wake them up,” Steve picked up the tray filled with muffins, doughnuts, some fruit, and eggs, before heading towards the door. They slowly opened the door to see all of their boys snuggled together sleeping peacefully.

“Well, at least they’re bonding?” Steve whispered to a slightly tensing Jeremy. Jeremy took a deep breath and relaxed, taking another look.

“He looks peaceful, they all do,” He whispered back. They both walked into the room quietly, before Steve started trying to wake them up.

“James, babe? Wake up love,” he whispered putting the tray down on the dresser. Everyone on the bed started to stir awake. “C’mon guys, we brought breakfast.”

Cib sat straight up at the mention of food, jostling the other two enough that they woke up. 

“Hey babe,” Jeremy went over and ran his fingers through Parker’s hair.

“Morning,” Parker smiled up at him. Steve climbed onto the foot of the bed and touched James' foot.

“So I fucked up. Badly. I’m here to grovel and feed you. So which do you want first?”

“Food,” James said, sitting up but being careful not to break the connection between himself and Steve. Steve turned and picked up the tray, handing it to the boys before resting his hand on James’ foot again.

“Ok, now you can grovel,” James said picking up a muffin.

“Good,” Steve smiled at him and Cib. “Ok so first of I’m so so so sorry that I reacted the way that I did. You didn’t do anything wrong and I should never have snapped at you. I especially shouldn’t have tried to keep you from Cib, he’s your boyfriend too and he sure as hell would have wanted you there. I’m especially sorry that I made you feel like I would either break up with you, kick you out of the crew, or both. I would never do that like that. Hell, I would never break up with you, you and Cib are the best things that have ever happened to me.”

Cib smiled at him and James leaned forward and took Steve’s hand in his own.

“I love you too idiot. You reacted like a civilian is expected to react, I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you help was on the way.”

“I know why you didn’t. It makes sense. I super overreacted and to make it up to you I got you some stuff. With the help of Jeremy,” with that Steve got up and hurried out into the hall. He returned a moment later with an armful of packages.

“Oh Steve honey, you didn’t need to-“ James starts to protest before he was shushed by everyone else.

“So I couldn’t wrap anything but here,” Steve climbed back into the bed and pushed all of the packages into his arms. James looked down and the first thing that he saw was a Polaroid camera.

“Oh honey,” James breathed out as he pulled the camera out of its box.

“I know how much memories mean to you, so I figured you may like having something where you can make the memories a little more permanent.”

“I don’t need anything else ever, this is amazing love,” James leaned forward and pulled Steve into a tight hug. 

“I mean, if you’re not gonna take it I will,” Cib said starting to rifle through the other packages that Steve had brought. “Aw sweet a new vape pen! And juice!”

“Does this mean I’m forgiven?” Steve asked, looking anywhere but at James. James caught his face with his hands.

“Yes you idiot. I forgive you,” James pressed a kiss to Steve’s lips.

“My turn!” Cib leaned forward and kissed them both on their cheeks.

“Ok, so clearly our heisting needs to get better. Also how the fuck did we not know that the Corpirate owned the store?” Jeremy said, wrapping his arms around Parker who leaned back into him.

“Good question,” Autumn said from the door where she and Sami Jo were standing.

“Is that food?” Sami Jo moved forward to sit next to Steve and eat some food.

“Help yourself? Also, we need to get you guys some bells or something. You’re too damn stealthy,” Steve said, clutching his heart.

“Yeah, we get that a lot. But seriously there was no indication anywhere that the Corpirate owned that store. And I went back through all the records with a fine tooth comb,” Autumn dropped down on Steve’s other side, poking James with her foot.

“Well, he did, and now we might be fucked. He owns whatever part of the town the Fakes don’t own. And there’s a lot of Fakes and they own a lot,” Jeremy said.

“Eh, we’re small. They’ll forget about us soon enough. We just need to keep our heads down and avoid attention for a little while,” James said, throwing an arm around Cib and grinning at Steve.

“Slaughter Pine 7, we could make a name for ourselves in this town,” Sami Jo said, looking dreamily at the wall.

“We should. We need a logo, something we can spray on walls,” Cib said, looking thoughtful.

“I can sketch something up if we’re serious,” Parker offered.

“I think we are,” Steve grinned around at his family. 

“Slaughter Pine 7 on three?” Cib said, putting his hand in the middle of all of them. James immediately had his hand in the circle, followed by Sami Jo, Steve, and Parker. After a second of everyone staring at them Jeremy and Autumn put their hands in too.

“One. Two. Three.” Cib counted out.

“Slaughter Pine 7,” everyone cheered before bursting into laughter.

**Author's Note:**

> So this one got away from me a little. Thank you all who have read this series so far and left kudos and comments! They mean the world to me! <3 you!  
> Find me on [Tumblr](https://ryanthemadbitch.tumblr.com/)


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